As retail leaders navigate shifts across the industry—from rising acquisition costs and supply chain cost variability to evolving consumer shopping habits—it’s an optimal moment to rethink traditional playbooks and adopt innovative growth strategies.
More and more, brand leaders are asking: What new business opportunities can we unlock?
One answer is already taking hold. Hundreds of brands are launching and scaling their resale businesses - not solely as a sustainability initiative, but as a core revenue driver.
While resale was once viewed as a “nice-to-have,” leading brands are proving that it’s a strategic business lever that directly unlocks some of retail’s toughest challenges: customer acquisition, margin recovery, omni-channel growth, loyalty & engagement, and brand perception.
Still, misconceptions remain. In conversations with CEOs, CMOs, e-commerce, and strategy leaders, we often hear similar hesitations:
- “Our margins are already too thin.”
- “This won’t move the needle on our P&L.”
- “Isn’t this just a sustainability project?”
- “Won’t it cannibalize our full-price sales?”
- “My team doesn’t have the bandwidth.”
The reality? These assumptions couldn't be further from the truth.
In this guide, we debunk the eight most common myths—backed by data and firsthand results. The evidence is clear: resale is one of the most effective growth levers available to retail leaders today.
What we hear from leaders:
“Our margins are already razor thin - other than a sustainability play, I don’t see how resale could add anything meaningful to my business.”
“I worry this will just turn into a sustainability cost center.”
Why this myth persists:
Executives are trained to evaluate channels through well-established models—wholesale margins, DTC contribution markdown impacts. Resale doesn’t map neatly. Supply feels uncertain, demand seems unpredictable, and prices are unclear. Without benchmarks, resale defaults to a cost center in the executive mindset.
Fact: Brand-owned resale is a profitable and scalable revenue channel.
Brands see up to 3% in incremental DTC revenue from resale within 12–18 months: M.M.LaFleur's resale business delivered +3% topline growth in its first year, with 30–40% YoY growth since launch.
Across brands, up to 70% of resale shoppers are new-to-brand; roughly half later convert to full-price.
Marketing efficiency improves: resale campaigns on paid channels deliver 4x higher ROAS than full-price campaigns.
Resale also monetizes sunk-cost inventory—including returns, overstock, and samples—often at healthier margins than 60-70% markdowns, while keeping products in a branded environment.
What we hear from leaders:
“Even if it works, resale feels small. Is this really worth my team’s time?”
“This isn’t going to move the needle on my P&L”
Why this myth persists:
With CEOs chasing 20% YoY topline growth and CFOs managing multimillion-dollar wholesale accounts, resale can look niche. Without benchmarks, it’s often framed as a side program instead of a meaningful revenue channel.
Fact: Resale is a low-lift channel that scales quickly to become a strong P&L contributor.
Brands forecast that resale will account for up to 10% of total revenue in the next three years: Christy Dawn’s Regenerates program accounted for 6% of their total ecommerce revenue during its first year.
Incremental revenue from the first year of launching resale is comparable to a brand’s outlet business—with healthier margins.
Instead of sending returns and excess stock to outlets at deep discount, resale turns them into a higher-margin channel that strengthens brand loyalty.
Brands find their average resale unit price is 155% higher than their outlet business.
The global secondhand apparel market is growing 2.7x faster than overall apparel, and is projected to reach $367B1. Brands that launch early are building durable, long-term revenue streams.
What we hear from leaders:
“This feels like an ESG checkbox, not a revenue driver.”
“We care about circularity, but it’s hard to justify if it doesn’t tie back to core KPIs”
Why this myth persists:
Media coverage often frames resale as a sustainability story. While important, it’s incomplete, as this view overlooks resale’s business impact.
Fact: Resale drives business growth while strengthening sustainability credentials.
Resale directly impacts core KPIs: revenue (incremental sales, AOV, margin), marketing efficiency (ROAS, CAC), and customer loyalty (NPS, LTV).
Customers who shop both resale and mainline demonstrate 2-3x higher LTV than full-price only: At Dr. Martens, resale customers’ lifetime value is 2x higher than mainline-only shoppers. And at Faherty, customers redeeming resale store credit spend 3x more on full-price items, creating measurable loyalty lift.
Beyond revenue, resale enables stronger storytelling around brand heritage and product quality—reinforcing positive brand sentiment and provides new ways to engage with their customers.
What we hear from leaders:
“Won’t this just incentivize my customers to buy used instead of new?”
“I don’t want to undermine full-price demand.”
Why this myth persists:
Executives have seen how markdowns and outlets can train customers to wait for lower prices. It’s logical to assume resale carries the same risk.
Fact: Resale complements, rather than replaces, mainline sales. It’s a powerful tool that drives customer acquisition, retention, and LTV.
Across Archive’s 50+ brand partners, not one has seen a decline in full-price sales due to resale.
On average, 50-70% of resale shoppers are new to the brand, and half later convert to full price.
Resale allows you to reach new audiences, particularly Gen-Z, who seek secondhand options before buying new.
Owning resale means control over pricing, presentation, and customer experience, rather than leaving it to third-party marketplaces.
"Your brand is already being resold and repaired by customers. By offering this yourself, you gain customer connection, loyalty, data, and countless other benefits…By launching resale within your brand, you have complete control, and can make decisions keeping mainline sales in mind" - Head of Recommerce, Dr. Martens
What we hear from leaders:
“My team is underwater. We can’t take on another cross-functional project.”
“This feels like a huge operational lift.”
Why this myth persists:
Historically, new channels (e-comm, wholesale, outlet) required major internal investment, long implementation timelines, and significant time for ongoing management. Leaders assume resale carries the same overhead, which feels unfeasible for already-strapped teams.
Fact: Resale is fast to launch and low-lift to maintain.
Archive’s technology is purpose-built for resale and integrates directly with existing e-comm and logistics stacks without disrupting core operations.
Archive handles the heavy lifting of development and operations works—custom site builds, data integrations, customer support, payments, logistics, and more—so your teams can stay focused on priorities.
Each brand has a dedicated growth manager, an extension of your in-house team to guide GTM strategy, P&L modeling, operational scaling, and more for ongoing success and to ensure you hit your target KPIs and goals.
“What could have been a monstrous undertaking has been mostly turnkey - and the best part is that there’s an immediate seen and felt benefit to the brand, the customer, and the planet.” - Director of Sustainability, Faherty
What we hear from leaders:
“Isn’t this just customers mailing in used product?”
“I don’t want piles of one-off items in random condition”
“Our returns are already a headache. How would this not make it worse?”
Why this myth persists:
Most executive exposure to resale comes from third-party, peer-to-peer marketplaces like ThredUp, Poshmark, and eBay. These channels can feel chaotic to brands with inconsistent quality, and off-brand presentation. It’s natural to assume all resale looks the same.
Fact: Healthy resale supply comes from multiple channels, and listings and presentation are completely controlled by the brand.Resale supply draws from a variety of channels—in addition to customer closets.
Returns: items already flowing back into warehouses can be cleaned and resold profitably instead of liquidated.
Overstock & past-season styles: sold at better margins than deep discount channels.
Samples & one-offs: repurposed into sellable supply, rather than being written off.
The brand-owned resale experience is fully branded, curated, and quality-controlled, turning resale into a brand asset instead of a risk.
Resale is not one-size-fits-all. Multiple resale models exist: managed resale, take-back, peer-to-peer — all tailored to brand priorities.
What we hear from leaders:
“Isn’t this just a Gen-Z trend?”
“Our customer skews older. Resale doesn’t feel relevant.”
Why this myth persists:
Gen-Z often gets the spotlight in resale discussions, overshadowing the fact that resale adoption is mainstream.
Fact: Resale appeals across demographics.
60% of Baby Boomers report openness to buying secondhand online.
59% of consumers say they will seek cheaper alternatives, like secondhand, as tariffs raise prices of goods.
Consumers overall plan to spend 34% of their apparel budgets on secondhand items in the next 12 months; Gen Z and millennials plan to spend nearly half (46%)1.
For brands, resale is both a Gen-Z entry point and a loyalty channel for value-conscious customers of all ages.
What we hear from leaders:
“We support resale in principle, but it’s not a priority right now.”
“We’ll get to it later when we have more bandwidth.”
Why this myth persists:
Leaders acknowledge resale’s benefits, but growth targets, CAC pressures, and macro headwinds dominate the headlines. Without urgency, “later” feels safer than “now.”
Fact: Delaying means forfeiting control, revenue, and loyalty
Your consumers are already buying your brand secondhand - just not from you.
Competitors are launching resale and capturing that demand.
Resale offsets margin pressure from tariffs, returns, and promotions.
Waiting comes at a cost. It means giving up both control and profit.
Each of these myths stems from a rational business concern. Retail leaders are right to ask hard questions about profitability, scale, cannibalization, resourcing, and relevance.
But across Archive’s 50+ partners, the evidence is consistent: resale is not a distraction. It’s a profitable, scalable growth channel that strengthens brand equity while addressing the structural pressures of modern retail.
Curious to see how branded resale can drive customer acquisition, retention, and revenue for your brand? We’d love to help.
1ThredUp 2025 Resale Report
